


Till the End of the World

by resonae



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, Blindness, Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-29
Updated: 2014-07-29
Packaged: 2018-02-10 21:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2041212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/resonae/pseuds/resonae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zitao's world doesn't end even when the undead overrun the earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Till the End of the World

For Zitao, the world doesn't end when there are zombies everywhere. It doesn't end when Yixing uses himself as bait so everyone else can run away, either. Or when Joonmyeon gets bit on one of the supply runs, right in front of his eyes. Not even when Jongin and Chanyeol try to go hunting and just comes back as Chanyeol, who's shaky and crying and throwing up.

 

It doesn't end when Yifan one day catches something that they don't even have a name for, a fever so high that he can't even drink water. They're scared it's some kind of new way to die, to wake up as an undead, but none of them leave his side. "He must have caught something from that hospital we stayed at yesterday," Luhan whispers, squeezing the water out of the towel they've been using to try and keep Yifan's fever down. Yifan's head is in Baekhyun's lap, and Zitao thinks that Baekhyun's legs have probably fallen asleep, but Baekhyun doesn't move. He just keeps his hand clutched around Yifan's, so Yifan knows they're all here.

 

"Maybe we should go back," Sehun suggests. "Or maybe just Zitao and I. We can go and maybe get some medicine."

 

"No," Minseok says, his voice sharp. "If Yifan did catch something from the hospital, we can't go back. We'll scour that pharmacy again."

 

"That pharmacy was stripped clean. We took the last of whatever was left, remember?" Sehun's voice is panicked. "Listen, I'll go with Zitao. We're both healthy, and if we didn't catch it the first time-"

 

Luhan cut Sehun short. "Stop it. Minseok's right. What are we going to do if more of us gets sick? Zitao, Sehun, Kyungsoo, go scour the pharmacy again. Kyungsoo, I'm trusting you to keep the other two in line. Don't go to the hospital, you hear me?"

 

Kyungsoo nods grimly. "I know. Get up, you two."

 

"Be careful," Baekhyun says, looking up for the first time since the conversation started. "Don't get lost."

 

\--

 

The world doesn't end even when they run into a father-daughter pair and have to leave them behind. Zitao feels doesn't even feel bad that they're digging into their packs afterward, and then feels kind of sick that he doesn't feel anything.

 

But then Sehun cries out triumphantly, fishing out a packet of Tylenols, and he doesn't even feel sick anymore.

 

\--

 

They read the labels over and over again, to make sure it's not expired or anything that might make Yifan sicker. "It's fine," Luhan finally says. "It's just regular Tylenol."

 

Kyungsoo crushes it into powder and they feed it to Yifan, who complains at the bitterness but swallows it down anyway. Zitao thinks it must be kind of nice, to be so delirious with sickness that you don't remember the horror going on in the world around you. He then feels bad about it when he knows Yifan's so sick he can barely lift a finger.

 

Over the course of the night, Yifan's fever falls. Zitao knows it's just the medicine, but Yifan can finally open his eyes and get some water in him. He doesn't have an appetite, but he eats for the sake of eating with Luhan coaxing him through food. Still, he barely gets anything down before he shakes his head and falls back onto Baekhyun's lap, looking exhausted.

 

\--

 

Zitao's world doesn't end later, when they lose Luhan and Minseok at the same time. He's got his hands pressed down onto Yifan's ears so he can't hear the snarls and the screams.

 

There's only 7 of them left, and Yifan is still mostly sick. Now, with Luhan and Minseok gone, Yifan is the oldest, but he's got nowhere near the consciousness to be doing anything. All of them are kind of lost without a leader, worried and wide-eyed. Minseok had always had an air of authority about him and they followed what he said, albeit some complaints, but now Minseok is gone, and they're trapped in a closet with the undead pounding on the doors, trying to get to them.

 

This situation is familiar, Zitao realizes, like that time when Yixing had smiled and hugged all of them without telling them why, and then slipped out of the door and ran as far as he could, bait and distraction so the rest of them could be somewhere else, safely.

 

"No one better be thinking about leaving this door," Chanyeol suddenly says, planting himself in front of it. Zitao realizes they’ve had the same thought. "We've lost enough of us already, you got that?"

 

Time passes, and Kyungsoo opens a can of pineapples. He feeds Yifan as much as Yifan can stomach - which isn't much, still - and passes the rest around to the group, opening a can of peaches along with it. Yifan's limp, leaning heavily on Kyungsoo's side. Zitao gulps down the pineapple piece and counts. Yifan. Jongdae. Baekhyun. Chanyeol. Kyungsoo. Sehun. Himself.

 

"Maybe I should just get out." Yifan says, voice quiet. "I'm no good like this, anyway."

 

"Don't be dumb," Sehun snaps. "Don't be fucking stupid, hyung, just shut up."

 

\--

 

They camp out for about three days in the tiny space, but by the end of it most of the zombies have been distracted by something else for Zitao to push through, shooting the remaining ones and hoping the noise didn't attract anything else. Chanyeol has Yifan, Yifan's arm slung over his shoulders and his own arm wrapped on Yifan’s waist. "Sorry," Yifan mumbles into Chanyeol's side as Baekhyun takes the rear.

 

They're all good at using their guns now, better than they'd ever thought they'd ever be. All of them can get headshots in almost every time, and none of them panic anymore at stray zombies. It's a funny world, Zitao thinks, when he's more scared of spiders than the undead.

 

\--

 

His world doesn't end when Kyungsoo is the next to fall, but it comes pretty damn close, because it's not zombies to kill Kyungsoo but people. Alive, real people who decide to rob them of all their guns and food and then shoot Kyungsoo in the stomach.

 

All of them know it's a painful way to go. They can't save Kyungsoo, and a shot to the stomach will poison Kyungsoo's bloodstream and kill him slowly and painfully. But none of them have the heart to kill him off, either. In the end it's Yifan with the hunting knife the thugs let him have, sliding it into the back of Kyungsoo's neck, aiming right below the skull so he can get the knife into the brain for a merciful death.

 

Yifan cries so hard after that he passes out, and he's shaking even as Chanyeol pulls him up into his arms. They need to find cover, fast, because it's getting dark and they don't even have any weapons or supplies anymore, so Zitao and Sehun and Jongdae go off running to find someplace they can camp the night.

 

They find a little shed not too far away, and they all stay up the entire night. Except Yifan, whose fever comes back when they've now run out of Tylenol.

 

\--

 

They decide to settle down for a bit in the shed. There's dry, clean straw and Jongdae brings it all together, gritting his teeth through the bugs he finds and dusting it off so Chanyeol can lay Yifan on it. Baekhyun will stay with Yifan, Zitao and Sehun will take the east side of the village, and Chanyeol and Jongdae are going to take the west. All of them have watches and they promise for 3 hours of searching before turning back right away.

 

Zitao and Sehun go through the houses methodically. Most of it's stripped clean, but they take whatever they can find, including clean sheets. Sehun's holding a small bear in his hand at the end of their search through the 3rd house. "What the hell, Sehun," Zitao says.

 

"Come on, it won't hurt. Yifan-hyung likes dolls so much." He tucks the bear under his arm and smiles.

 

\--

 

They find a surprising amount of stuff. Zitao comes across an unpicked safe that he manages to break open with 4 handguns, a rifle, and a ton of ammo. Sehun finds a stash of junk food hidden under a loose board in what looks like a child's room. Chanyeol and Jongdae don't have much luck on weapons except a small handheld knife, but they do find a pharmacy that hasn't been emptied out and a bunch of canned food.

 

"I can't believe we got so lucky." Jongdae breathes as he empties his backpack out. "I don't think a lot of people have been here yet. It's pretty rural." He pulls out cans and cans of vegetables and fruits, and at the end come out Spam. Chanyeol has canned soup and even a few packages of ramen.

 

"Holy shit," Baekhyun whispers as he crushes Tylenol on his spoon. "How did we get so lucky?"

 

Jongdae smiles sadly. "Maybe the others are watching over us."

 

\--

 

Yifan recovers slowly, but he's even weaker than before. He has nightmares about Kyungsoo, and Zitao doesn't blame him.

 

But still, Zitao's world doesn't end when Sehun gets bit, and Zitao takes it upon himself to kill Sehun before the virus can take him over. "Sorry," Sehun says, smiling weakly up at him even though the flesh on his neck is gone. "Sorry you have to do this, but I don't think I can do it myself."

 

"I'm sorry." Zitao cries, squeezing Sehun’s arm. "I'm so sorry."

 

"Don't be dumb. It was my fault.” Sehun coughs, groaning in pain. “Listen, take care of Yifan hyung, yeah? I think he’s blaming himself-“ Sehun stops, shifting and biting his lip. Zitao wipes angrily at the tears that won’t stop. “He’s been sick for so long. Take care of him. I think Chanyeol-hyung – he’s got his head on straight now. The Jongin thing shook him up for a while, but he’s – I think he’ll be okay. He’ll do good.”

 

As a leader, Sehun means, and Zitao nods. “Thank you,” Zitao tells him, because sorry doesn’t seem appropriate.

 

Sehun grins. “Yeah. Thank you, too. Listen, I love you guys, all right? Stay safe.”

 

Zitao nods, and hugs Sehun as tight as he could and angles the knife, pushing it hard. Sehun goes limp in his arms almost immediately and Zitao wants to cry at the blood that stains his hands, but he doesn’t. Sehun looks peaceful, and Zitao props him against the wall of the shed. He hears the zombies snarling nearby, but he’s not about to let Sehun become undead food. He drags the body back in, careful to make sure Yifan doesn’t see, and starts digging.

 

Chanyeol and Baekhyun come to help, and the three of them dig silently. It’s hard, without much to aid them but their hands and feet, but they get it done, gritting their teeth. “He’s gone to a better place,” Jongdae says quietly. “It’s hell down here.”

 

“Yeah.” Baekhyun says, patting Sehun’s cheek and bowing his head. Zitao sees two drops of tears soak the dirt before Baekhyun raises his head, eyes glossy with tears that he holds back. “Yeah, he has.”

 

\--

 

Yifan comes down with such an intense fever that nothing they do will bring it down. He keeps calling for the others that have died, swimming in hallucinations from the high fever.

 

The next morning after the fever breaks, Yifan can’t see. His eyes are dull, can’t focus to anything they’re saying and he panics, crying and reaching out for anyone. Chanyeol takes the hands that are fumbling and hugs him tight as they all cry.

 

Yifan’s blind, and Zitao’s world doesn’t end.

 

\--

 

They decide to stay at the town. Equipped with new weapons, Zitao and Chanyeol clear out a nearby house that’s the home to a lonely zombie that was once an elderly woman. For a house in the rural area, it’s got a modern bathroom with a toilet that still surprisingly works. The water in the shower also runs, albeit only ice cold water. The doors aren’t exactly steel doors, but the residents of the town were the elderly anyway, so the undead are slow and sluggish at best, and there aren’t that many left over to begin with.

 

“There’s a step,” Jongdae says, clutching tightly onto Yifan’s arm. Baekhyun has Yifan’s other arm, his face resolute. “A little higher. There you go.”

 

Yifan hasn’t said anything since he woke up blind. His fever is back up and he stumbles, but Baekhyun and Jongdae manage to keep him up despite their height difference. Chanyeol’s already got the blankets spread out so Yifan can lay down on it. Yifan cries silently, curled up on his side. Zitao just sits in the corner, wanting to cry but knowing he has to be strong.

 

\--

 

They reinforce everything they’ve got. They’ve got a pretty decent gate, but the walls around the yard are way too low. They take rocks from the walls surrounding the other houses and build step by step, packing the empty spaces with mud. Jongdae finds a bag of concrete in one of the houses and they use it as sparingly as they dare to reinforce the walls. Yifan’s still sick, but he gropes around the house, gritting his teeth and taking the interior of the house to memory as Baekhyun hovers nearby to make sure he’s not doing anything dangerous.

 

They find a calendar, and while they don’t know what date it is anymore, it’s still useful for marking down the time period passed. They decide January 1st is the day they arrived, and slowly tick off dates. They find a tree that hangs down to their yard that has juicy plums they can all eat, and there is a small lemon tree and an orange tree in the back of the house.

 

Baekhyun brings back a stem of a tomato plant one day on his run around the town. It shrivels up and dies the first time, and the second time, but the third time they manage to get cherry tomatoes that are huge. They taste kind of bland, but that’s how they fill their stomach that night.

 

They plant other things like lettuce and peppers. There’s a greenhouse nearby with strawberry plants that have been trampled on over and over, but Zitao finds a plant that’s still alive and they plant it near the tomato stems.

 

Three months pass. Yifan’s so gotten used to his blindness that he can even work the fire in the furnace of the traditional kitchen without burning himself. He never steps outside the gate, and they lock it securely not just so the undead can’t walk in, but also so that Yifan can’t accidentally walk out.

 

And Zitao’s world hasn’t ended.

 

\--

 

Zitao’s world doesn’t end even when their haven for five months is overrun and they lose Baekhyun and Jongdae.

 

“We shouldn’t have got too comfortable,” Chanyeol says, crying as he buries their fallen.

 

Zitao doesn’t say anything. Yifan’s sitting on the ruined porch, staring at where their ruined plants are even though he can’t see them, and that breaks Zitao’s heart more than anything.

 

\--

 

They meet a family on the road. “We’re going south,” the father tells them. “There’s a haven in Busan, they say.”

 

They move together for a bit, sharing rations and ammos. On the third day, the older son suggests they leave the blind one behind.

 

Chanyeol punches him in the face, and the three of them leave.

 

\--

 

Zitao’s world doesn’t end when Chanyeol is bitten. He’s got Yifan tucked in his arms, holding him and barricading the door with his weight. Yifan is screaming, crying, begging Zitao to just let him go and to leave him. “It’s all my fault.” Yifan screams. “Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Jongdae, they all died because of me, don’t you see? I’m so fucking useless, and now I can’t even see and they were all just trying to protect me and now they’re all dead-“

 

Zitao kisses him. Yifan goes stiff with shock in his arms. “Shut up,” Zitao hisses, pressing their faces together. Their tears rub on each other’s cheeks and he wishes he could put everything he was feeling into words but he can’t. “Shut _up_. Yixing died to protect all of us. Joonmyeon died trying to get supplies for all of us. Jongin died trying to find food for all of us. Luhan died so he could give us more time. Minseok died trying to get us out first. Kyungsoo died speaking up for all of us. Sehun died trying to find somewhere we could stay. Jongdae died fighting for us. Baekhyun died trying to keep us safe. Chanyeol died to keep us alive and _don’t you dare waste all their lives._ ”

 

Zitao puts his backpack down. The pounding and the groaning behind the doors don’t stop, but Yifan’s quieted down now, sobbing silently and clutching onto Zitao’s shirt. Zitao digs through the bag he’s been carrying, and stops when his hands brush across something furry.

 

He pulls it out. It’s the bear Sehun picked up, so long ago now. He shoves it into Yifan’s arms. “What is it?”

 

“A teddy bear. Sehun was going to give it to you, back when we were at the shed. I guess we forgot because we found the guns and food and got too excited. I never took it out of the bag.”

 

Yifan’s long fingers stroke over the bear’s outline, tracing its eyes and its nose. It’s not a particularly cute bear, Zitao thinks, but Yifan hugs it to him. “We’ll name it Sehun and keep it safe.”  


The world outside is a mess. The dead walk the streets, and even those alive kill each other. He’s lost 10 out of the 11 people he considered closest to his heart.

 

But the one person that’s the most important is still here. Yifan is blind, and he was probably never going to be much help from the beginning anyway, with his clumsiness. But Yifan is alive. “Yifan,” Zitao says. “I’m not going to call you ge anymore.”

 

Yifan looks up at him. He’s gotten good at that, directing the source of the sound. “Zitao?”

 

“You always protected me. Took care of me, starting from the day I came. I depended on you a lot, you know that. But now it’s my turn to protect you, and little kids can’t do that.” Zitao squeezes Yifan’s shoulders. Yifan’s always been taller, but Zitao’s always been broader. “We’ll get to Busan and find this haven. And if it’s not there, we’ll make one.”

 

Zitao’s world won’t end. Not today, not tomorrow. Not while Yifan is still alive, and Zitao plans on keeping Yifan alive.

 

So Zitao’s world runs on.


End file.
